RESEARCH

SMALL STREAM MANAGEMENT

Initial work is currently in hand to assess the 4 &5 ‘stream order’ streams In the Glenmore area as these need, this year, to be included in our small stream conservation program. Similarly advance work is in hand to plan the future program for the whole of the Inny Catchment which to date has received no input at all.
This coming year the work will involve the assessment of these streams ulitising the Small Streams Characterisation System devised by The Atlantic Salmon Trust. It involves the investigation of the Flora, Fauna and Invertebrates of the surveyed streams, against a National Database, to identify those streams which need assistance with or additional protection from debilitating environmental impacts.
It should be recognised that all streams in the catchment, even those at the very top of the system not containing fish, contribute to the overall health of the system, as the downstream ‘drift’ of organisms help fish populations further down. Similarly the upstream migration of Sea Trout and Salmon is essential to the re-distribution of the larvae of the protected Freshwater Pearl Mussel from the bottom back to the top of the system.
The survey and report, carried out by IFI in 2014, published in 2015, on the status of salmonid stocks in the small steams in the catchment showed that there were excellent levels of juvenile’s present, in fact, some of the highest in the State. In some streams, there had been a noticeable improvement over previous surveys carried out in 1994 and 2004.